"The real benefit was that we only had one module to check in order to debug every one in the game."

- Kerbal Space Program developer Chad Jenkins elucidates the value of building your game with reusable "modules" of code.

Squad technical artist Chad Jenkins spoke at length about how modular design principles made Kerbal Space Program possible as part of the Independent Games Summit at GDC 2014. Jenkins claims that investing time in building flexible, reusable content creation systems can help indie teams save a significant amount of time and effort remaking assets over and over again. During his talk he explained how Squad did just that, tossing out its original design structure and building one that enabled them to update and expand Kerbal Space Program with (relative) ease.

It's a good talk that sheds light on how the modular design of Kerbal made the game easier to mod and upgrade by both its developers and the players themselves, which ultimately contributed greatly to the game's commercial and critical success.

We've taken the liberty of embedding the free video of "Sandbox Lessons: Modular Design in Kerbal Space Program" above, but you can also watch it here on the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

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